Abstract: A new method for determining the kinetic order and activation energy for atom formation in electrothermal atomic absorption spec-trometry is proposed. The assumption of first order kinetics for atom formation and the steady-state approximation which appeared in the previous models is avoided in the proposed method. The kinetic parameters for atom formation of Li have been obtained, and the effect of the amount of analysed sample, ashing temperature, atomization temperature, heating rate, gas flow and tube surface on the atomization of Li has also been investigated.

Key words: Atomic absorption, Atomization peocess, Kinetic parameters